Cotton Candy Matcha

Yummy in my tummy.
This is today’s bottled iced matcha drink! I added a tiny pinch of sugar for a treat – it is wonderful. I feel like a small child. haha!

I will also say, my hands are shaking – but it’s not the matcha! Just some good old fashioned workplace conflict. Hooray! Hanging in there though – only 1 more hour!

Have I mentioned lately that Steepster is my safe place? Thanksuguys!

This is a Cotton Candy Matcha from Red Leaf Tea – see here to purchase:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cotton-candy-matcha.html

I was very eager to try this one I mean come on its COTTON CANDY after all!

My Tea was composed as such:

Cotton Candy Matcha
Size: Small
Matcha Quality: Royal (Premium Grade)
Flavor: Robust
Storage: Add Small Metal Tin (I paid 3.00 extra for this)

The small tins do fit all of the tea if you purchase a small (30g) bag of matcha leaving plenty of wiggle room for more. I have yet to make a larger purchase but once I find my favorites I am sure I will. Then I will have to opt for larger tins as the bags that the matcha come in, while pretty and shiny and gold, with lovely labeling, unfortunately do not zip or reseal. This is the ONLY downside to Red Leaf Tea I can find thus far.

I believe if I had to say what color of cotton candy this matcha is it would be the pink, but then that is the color the graphic shows here so I suppose my guess is right. And yes different colors of cotton candy DO have different flavors! Don’t argue with me about cotton candy – I’m an expert lol.

Its so nice to have these delectable treats in matcha form, thus healthy, and yet feel so satisfied by them! All the pleasure none of the guilt! Although I admit I do mix mine with milk and sometimes use creamer to make a latte but gah its still better than the real stuff!

This has just the right amount of sweetness to it yet still allows me to feel as though I am getting that green tea goodness! I do not feel at the Robust level of flavoring that the green tea matcha flavor was lost, I actually personally could go for the “there’s matcha in there?” strength and be one happy camper! Not that I ever got cotton candy while camping but you get the idea right?

I can’t imagine anyone not loving this tea and it seems any tea that has Cotton Candy in the name has been a favorite of mine but then again this is only the second one I have found and this is the ONLY matcha! I can’t even make the entire cup last through this review its THAT good! Now, with that said, if I had to put this flavor and bavarian cream side by side, I would have to go with the bavarian cream as its flavor seems to stand up more than this one and you all should know by now I am the “in my face” flavor person! With that said I think if I kicked this up to the “There’s Matcha in there?” flavor point I would go for this one.

So which should you pick if picking between these two? Well BOTH of course! You can’t compare apples to oranges can you? Speaking of Ref Leaf has both of those flavors too!! On my list they are! I actually had to stop putting Red Leaf matcha in my shopping cart as it was getting silly when I know I simply want ALL of them including the Mushroom one – called Reishi on their site. Yeah go check that out!

I think what I like more about this than the Bavarian Cream is that it evokes more memories and thus more joy. Its funny but my memories are not about being a child at the circus but TAKING my children to the circus! LOL I just realized how sweet and cute that is! I guess it happens when we are mothers and our children are nearly grown up. SIGH reminiscing for a moment …. okay done. When you have two equally amazing teas its really difficult to draw a comparison but for me, the one that wins out is most always the one that evokes a memory, a feeling, a thought, an idea, or emotion. While the flavor of Bavarian Cream is hard to beat this just takes me “there”.

Now granted this is a review for Cotton Candy and I know I keep referencing the Bavarian Cream but so far these would be the two Red Leaf matcha(s) I have had that are comparable and since few of us can afford to get THEM ALL we need something to help us decide. Since I recently reviewed Bavarian Cream I thought it good to compare the two as they are both very sweet matcha(s). I really wish I knew if it were matcha as plural or matchas… does anyone know? I guess its time to do a google search!

Wow I did so thinking it would be easy to figure out but alas I still don’t know so if anyone can clue me in here – matcha or matchas? Thanks! My guess is matcha.

Again here is the link to Red Leaf Tea’s Cotton Candy Matcha:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cotton-candy-matcha.html

I love this flavor. Seriously, this tastes like cotton candy. Sweet and yummy. Plus the delicious taste of Matcha.

This one is definitely one of my faves.

OMG!!! The dry leaf aroma is spot on cotton candy!!! I gave it to my fiancé to smell and he said, “Ooh that smells good!” I asked him what he thought it smelled like, and he quickly and confidently replied, “Chocolate!” LOL! Well, so much for his opinion. I think that it smells exactly like sugary, slightly caramelized, spun sugar. Yum!

I bought the classic matcha with robust flavoring. Hmm, the taste of this one is really interesting. It’s not nearly as sugary as I would have thought from the aroma. The grassy matcha flavor is actually still quite strong, and the cotton candy flavoring lends the tea a natural sweetness. I had expected more in-your-face sugar. But this is delightful!

It’s so amazing to me that this tea has no added sweeteners. How is that even possible?! A peek at the ingredients list reveals “pure matcha powder from green leaves” and “cotton candy natural flavor.” It definitely tastes natural. But it must be a sweetener or sugar or Stevia or something!

This is definitely not one to get with a lighter flavoring level or I’m not sure you’d taste it at all. Maybe I’ll be bold and go for the “There’s Matcha in there?!” flavoring next time. :D Don’t get me wrong; I can definitely taste cotton candy. But the cotton candy flavor and the matcha flavor seem to be almost equal. Soooo delicious! I’m off to make a second cup because this one disappeared rather quickly. It’s just too yummy!!

Oh yeah, you can get yours here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cotton-candy-matcha.html

Well I think I didn’t prepare it properly. It is my first Matcha and I have no tools to prepare it, just drop it in the mug, put some water, tried to mix it it with few water first thanks to a spoon and then dropped the rest of water.
It wasn’t bad but wasn’t exceptional.
I thanks darby for sending me some of her matcha but need clearly to improve the way I prepare it !

Guh, cotton candy. This was the flavor I most looked forward to, and it’s the one I ripped into and gleefully made a cup as soon as the package arrived. So much for my nap, I have matcha to drink! I didn’t even read the description on the site, it just instantly wound up in my cart. Cotton candy is childhood to me, as well as a good number of college years spent drinking cotton candy cosmos. I can hear my mother in my head right now. “No, you can’t get cotton candy, if we’re going to pay $5 for a snack, it’s going to be something more than just spun sugar!” But rarely she would cave and oh man. Oooooh man. I remember at one company picnic, they had a cotton candy machine, and you could have all the cotton candy you wanted. They even showed you how to make it! It was amazing. It was the ultimate snack of my childhood. Fast forward a few years to the summer between my first and second year of college. I had an apartment with three other girls, two of whom I didn’t know, and I was working at Beech Bend Park. Now, if you know where that is, you either a) went to Western Kentucky University or b) are a biker, because it’s adjacent to the Beech Bend racetrack and the Beech Bend Campground, where Harley days are held every year. Usually, I got stuck working the teacups (ironic, huh?), but every once in a while, I got to work food services and I got to make the cotton candy. Oh my goodness. Heaven. Hot work, but heaven. A year or two later I went to O’Charley’s with a friend and spotted the Cotton Candy Cosmo on the menu. Unable to resist anything cotton candy, I had to try out. Out came a martini glass overflowing with fresh cotton candy. A little shaker contained vodka and when your poured the vodka over the cotton candy, it melted and mixed in so beautifully that you forgot you were drinking way too much alcohol.

Now it’s my go-to snack when the wife takes me to the movies. It’s $3 and it makes my inner kid go bouncing all over the place. This tea does the same thing (found here:http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cotton-candy-matcha.html). It’s…it’s amazing how much it really does taste like cotton candy, especially when cold. The cooler my cup got, the more it tasted like those little fluffy clouds of heaven. You can still taste the matcha, and it has an odd creaminess to it, but it’s just…wow. Wow. It all blends together and it even has that burnt sugar bit at the end of the sip. I’m going to take a cup of this to the Zoo next Tuesday, ride the carousel, and just go back in time to the carnivals and theme parks of my youth.

As a kid, I was kind of obsessed with cotton candy. If I got any, no one could eat it but me, I’d go through an entire bag in about 5 minutes. If it was fresh cotton candy, probably 2. Anything cotton candy flavored I HAD to have. I think this has carried over into adulthood, since I go bananas for cotton candy flavored tea. I consider the 52teas blend mana from heaven, so of course I freaked out a little when I saw Red Leaf had a cotton candy matcha. How I waited until my 4th order to get some I’ll never know!

But now my tea is here and in one of the new packages! They’re about half the size and silver, very cute plus they take up less space. Yes, I don’t put my matcha in tins. I know, bad matcha owner! But I go through it all pretty fast with 1-2 cups a day so I don’t worry about it going bad or tasting less potent. I think I have like… 1 cup of caramel left? And I got it a month ago, so just a bit of tape is fine for me! Anyway, I got my Cotton Candy with the following options:

Size: Small (30g)
Matcha: Classic (did they change the name of this one? I remember it being called Starter a few weeks ago)
Flavor: Distinctive

Cotton Candy is a STRONG flavor, so maybe I should have gone with Delicate but OH WELL I WANT MY COTTON CANDY. Seriously, the flavor at this level is so strong it might as well be the “there’s matcha in there?!” option. And I love it! I made this iced (mixed up the starter and just poured it in a cup with ice cold water)—usually I do lattes but I don’t see milk and cotton candy going well together. Plus I’ve found you can add a lot of water and still retain the flavor, while the same amount of starter will only mix well with a small mug of milk. I guess the milk kind of “dampens” the flavors? In any case, I had a nice large glass of cotton candy!

And OH MAN does it taste like cotton candy. The beginning of the sip is just matcha taste, but everything after that… heaven. It might as well be melted (green) cotton candy in my glass. And the taste lingers, my mouth was all cotton candy-y for a good half hour after I finished. This is just… it’s so good. If you like cotton candy you owe it to yourself to try this one out right now. Seriously! You can get some here:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cotton-candy-matcha.html

Thanks Azzrian for sending me a bit of this!
HooRAY!

The aroma was a bit more subtle than I thought it would be. Most of the time when I think of Cotton Candy I think of over-the-top Cotton Candy/Pure Sugar/artificial flavoring, etc. Just to SMELL Cotton Candy on a stick makes my teeth hurt sometimes! Oye! BUT…this is much more subtle and more easy to handle on the nose and taste buds!

It’s sweet like candy and fruity like Smarties! There is that bit of “green” to it too! I like it! Actually the more I sip the more I like…It’s better as it cools, too! YUM!

So when I think of cotton candy I think of those little fairs that they have in malls during the summer. So when I saw this I had and AWE I miss being a kid moment. And knew I needed to try this as it would bring back a food memory.

So I was a little hesitant at first to try this cause when you think cotton candy you think pure sweetness and sugar overload. Not so much as sugar and earthiness from the matcha. So I wasn’t quite sure if this was going to work out okay. But alot of people have said in reviews its a good combo, so well heck I gotta try it.

So what I got was Size: Small (30 grams), Quality: Basic Grade, Flavor: Delicate. I’m going to have try this in robust flavoring to see the difference. So first attempt at drinking it I made it into a Iced latte. Yum definitely the right choice, I had to add a touch of sweetener cause I’m a sugarhollic and need everything sweet. I’m actually really surprised how the sweetness works with the matcha. Red Leaf you’ve done it again! Blown my mind, even when you think oh no that’s not going to work at all it does. You can taste the matcha which I like but its got this sweet, soft, creaminess to it, that reminds you of cotton candy. And its not too sweet where you feel after you drink it your going to go into sugar shock. If I closed me eyes and drank this I wouldnt be like OH! this is cotton candy matcha. Its got a sweetness to it but I also got it in delicate flavoring, I bet in robust flavoring you’d know it was cotton candy :) l This is where I got it http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cotton-candy-matcha.html

I think this would make an amazing matcha ice cream. Oh no I see a cooking adventure in the near future with this. Cotton Candy Matcha Ice Cream sounds perfect!

Welcome to my MATCHA MADNESS DAY!!! I’m starting with Cotton Candy first, from my order of five different kinds. To say I’m excited is an understatement! I loved Cotton Candy as a kid and still at the age of thirty-seven will buy cotton candy when I see it. My hubby humors my childlike excitement.
My first encounter with this matcha was heaven! I opened up the pouch, preparing it for the tin that will keep in the yummy goodness. The small size fits perfect in the tin with a little wiggle room…enough to be able to get the measuring spoon in.
I unpacked my matcha bowl that I specifically as for at Christmas time so that I could properly prepare matcha. Then came the chasen from its tight plastic case. Since this was its first use I warmed it up a bit under water, sitting in the bowl. I think part of what I love about matcha is the preparation that feels very ceremonial. All items ready…bowl, chasen, matcha and water!
First I mixed 2 oz of water with 1 perfect teaspoon of matcha. Of course in my preparation I was so excited and almost forgot to sift it first..disaster avoided! Once that was properly mixed I added a teeny bit of sugar (this is cotton candy of course) and 6 oz of water. After I properly exhausted any strength from my whipping right hand I was ready.
The smell of this matcha is not as strong once mixed with water. I did purchase robust as I love intense flavor and didn’t want to mess around with trying delicate first and working my way up. I had to stop myself from order all of them – “There’s Matcha in there?!” level. The taste is there though! The quality of this matcha is very tasty and I just ordered the starter/basic grade. It doesn’t taste too vegetal or clash with the sweetness off the cotton candy. I think next time I will add jus t a bit more sugar as I didn’t want to go overboard the first time and not really get the original taste of the matcha.
My plan for the rest of Cotton Candy is to mix it first as a latte. Then, try adding to my health food drink which is a vanilla base. So I’ll be back to let you know how that works out!
Here is how I ordered my Cotton Candy Matcha from Red Leaf Tea:
Size: Small
Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust
Storage: Air tight refill flat pouch – would definitely recommend purchasing a tin for your matcha to keep it fresh. I did not order one this time since I already had a tin.
To get your own tasty Cotton Candy Matcha from Red Leaf Tea – GO HERE NOW!!!!
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cotton-candy-matcha.html
In closing – YUM!!!!